It has finally happened – Will and I invested in a home computer (not a mac, boo!) so I am finally able to BLOG FROM HOME!! What a novel concept that is, right?? I usually have to find time to do it at work and that is probably not what my bosses want to pay me for. So, now I am officially a computer-owner, not a computer-borrower. Moving on….

My parents were in town for a few days last weekend on their South Florida house hunt and they stopped by and spent one night with us. For my Mom’s birthday, my dad bought her another Pomeranian puppy, and they brought all their dogs along, so I finally got to meet Abby. So did Guinness and Mia.

This dog is seriously only like 2 freakin’ pounds, and I’m willing to bet that at least a pound of that is her head!! This is her meeting Mia and Guinness for the first time:

Don’t let the look on her face confuse you. She quickly fell in LOVE with Guinness and all she wanted to do was play with him. Of course, Guinness was only too happy to oblige. How does a 95 lb dog play with a 2 lb dog, you ask?? Well, let me show you:

He gets down on his belly, rolls over and lets the tiny little puppy jump all over him:

After a while, my Mom felt like Abby had been sufficiently slimed by Guinness and put her away into the make-shift pen that she had made and Abby looked like a depressed little teenager who has been grounded by her parents and not allowed to see “that boy” anymore.

The next morning, she was full of energy and ready to sit still (for some treats) so that I could get some better shots of her:

Freakin’ adorable, right?? My mom actually has a better camera than I do, but she hasn’t sent me any pictures of this little one before, so I had to take my own.

I plan on making a few changes around here in the next week or so, so keep a look out for some new features/themes!!

This past Friday, My Parents came into town for one night on their property search and we cooked dinner and made them watch The Transformers.(they had never seen it and that is akin to blasphemy in our home) (they liked it, btw)

Saturday we all loaded up with my parents and their two babies (can’t call them dogs) to the beach for the first time where there was a whole “beached jelly fish” drama and Will ended up putting a LIVE jellyfish into one of the trashcans before the dogs could either 1. step on it 2. pee on it or 3. (most likely) eat it. My parents didn’t stay around too long because they had to start their long trip back home, but Will, Nicole, Trent and I stayed with our dogs A LOT longer than we had anticipated and Will and I both ended up sunburned.

We had my office Holiday Party that night where we ate good food and played Wii (Will may or may not have made an 8 year old boy cry) and watched some boring football.

Will put in his two weeks notice at SB and gave away his last shift!!!! Apparently while we were out of town, a nearby SB closed and the employees were moved to other stores in the area and his hours got cut down to ONE 5 hour shift a week and we thought, well, what’s the effin’ point anymore?? So, no more second jobs for either of us!!!!!

We’re gathering boxes and starting to pack to move out of our town home and into an apartment at the end of the month. I don’t really mind the downsizing as much as I thought I would because the animals stay right where we are no matter how much living space we have, but there will be less carpet to vaccuum, less toilets to clean, and I won’t have to go up and down TWO sets of stairs to do laundry anymore so I’m kind of excited.

I was FINALLY able to get a couple of pictures of Trent and Nicole Friday night!!! Check it out, these are our new BFF’s!!!

Aren’t they adorable??? I love how Trent is purposefully NOT looking at me and trying not to laugh b/c he just KNOWS he’s going to end up on here!!

I mentioned before about getting my point and shoot that has the video capabilities on it while we were home in my last post and when I charged it up, I found THESE pictures from when Mia and Olivia were little!!! Enjoy even though they are blurry:

This one was taken the day we adopted Olivia (5/27/2006) the lady told us that the kittens were born on April Fool’s Day, so she was ALMOST two months old at this point.

And here she is playing with her collar on Will’s old “bachelor rug” from his old apartment a couple of months later:

In the old apartment, before we got any other animals, we used to play a game with Olivia where she would hide in the sink and we would try to sneak up on her. She would put her little paws outside of the sink and try to swat at us and it was too freakin’ cute!! I have some video of it on the old computer. (that isn’t working right now and I plan on getting it fixed one day) Anyhow, these pictures are me trying to get her cute little “hunter face”. Please excuse all the “red eyes” in these photos.

Here is one of Will holding Olivia right after we got her. This is also what Will looked like when we first started dating over THREE years ago. Isn’t he cute??

And finally we come to the JEWEL of all the pictures that I found on that camera – ONE LONELY little picture of Mia as a puppy. She is so freakin’ adorable I can’t stand it. Again, please ignore the eyes. I didn’t take the time in photoshop to edit any of these other than adding the borders. This was taken the day that we got her (8/19/06). We had JUST moved into our first apartment together as a couple, we already had Olivia, and Will really wanted to get a dog so we went and adopted Mia. Wouldn’t you have adopted this adorable face???

Well, that is all I have for today because it’s ALMOST time for me to go home from work and I have PLENTY to keep me busy there (cleaning, organizing, and packing). I’m still thinking about my Exposaroonie Challenge for this week and what to submit as my BEST PHOTO of 2008. I really have NO idea. I have taken SO MANY, how could I choose?? Of course, I’m sure it will have to do with one of the animals. I have made a promise to myself that once we get moved and settled into our new place, I’m going to challenge myself to take a picture EVERY DAY for 30 days and figure out how to do different processes in Photoshop. If you have any you recommend, let me know!

So, you might want to settle in, get comfortable, and be prepared to be here a while. I’ve been absent for over a week because of holiday travel, general laziness, and returning-to-work-after-a-week-off responsibilities. I’m sure you understand. So let’s start with the holiday travel. (I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, btw.)

Will and I left last Saturday morning, homebound to Atlanta (Newnan, actually, but most people haven’t ever heard of it.) to see family. We were on the road at 5:30. In the a.m. I had forgotten we had one of those because I’m never up that early. It was an 8 hour drive that turned into a 10 hour drive because of construction and stupid people who don’t know how to drive accidents on the interstate. Enjoy some pictures from our drive:

Here is the best shot of the sunrise I managed. It’s really hard to focus on ANYTHING when you’re driving 80+ miles an hour. Plus, I may or may not have read the instruction manual for my camera. Don’t judge me.

We took Will’s Scion XB and put the back seats down. We had A TON of stuff to pack for 9 days for 2 adults and 2 dogs. When we take the dogs anywhere, Guinness has a habit of standing up and putting his head in between the seats and drooling on Will and myself. This is very annoying. So we decided to put all the suitcases and luggage right behind the seats to create a barrier between us and the dogs. They still had plenty of room, but of course they kept sitting up to see us over all the bags:

Guinness is not amused by our craftiness, and Mia looks like she has a handlebar mustache because we were driving with the windows down. It was nice and cool outside and this kept the car from smelling like dog too much.

We saw A LOT of this throughout the 10 hour drive:

This shows how much room they had back there. Of course Guinness never let Mia have her own personal space, but how is that any different than any other time, really?

After a while, the dogs were getting bored and they were ready to be out of the car already (don’t worry, we made several stops for them to walk around and use the bathroom, we didn’t drive 600+ miles without stopping.) We started to see more and more of this:

Will took this one from the drivers seat (I was holding the steering wheel) because it was so funny. To me it looks like she is chuckling.

I can hear his thoughts “Are we there yet?”

“I’m booorrrreeeeed, Mommy, how long??”

We finally made it after a loooonnnnnnggggg TEN HOUR car ride with two impatient dogs. We went to my parents house and unloaded all of our things into the guest room and then we shot down to Will’s parents house b/c he was going to a Thrashers Game with his dad (Thrashers Won!!) and I went back to my parents house to RELAX. While we were there, we got to see my Mom’s dogs.

Samson:

And Missy:

I love that little tongue!!

We spent the next 4 days at my Mom’s house, hanging out with family, eating waaayyy too much good food (I actually got my family to try edamame!! And they liked it!!!), and playing Wii Fit, Guitar Hero, Mario, card games, board games (Harry Potter’s Clue, anyone??) and Will and I went to see Bolt with his little brother and sister. Oh yeah, we also cleaned up dog vomit. Twice. Because BOTH of our dogs ended up sick. Mia was the perpetrator of the vomit and Guinness ended up with an eye infection and diarrhea. What fun that was, let me tell you. We had been invited to meet our first blogger friend puddle of ink IRL (In Real Life, for those of you who aren’t as nerdy as me), but unfortunately we couldn’t b/c the dogs were sick. (Next time, I promise!!)

Tuesday night we opened Christmas Gifts with my parents. My Mom bought us a Wii, Wii Fit, Guitar Hero World Tour for the Wii (she kept the drums and microphone, though) and the accessory kit for the Wii fit. She also gave us a few games she had bought for the Wii and didn’t like, so we ended up with 6 games and a ton of accessories in the end. My parents got CJ (my brother) and his wife Mandy a 42″ Samsung Plasma TV and the wall bracket. She ended up getting a GREAT deal from HHGregg and got the tv for 600$ and the bracket for FREE!! My Mom is seriously one of the best bargain shoppers I know. It amazes me sometimes. Will was so freakin’ excited that my parents kept making jokes about Will kicking me out of the bed so that the Wii had a nice, warm place to sleep. Or finding Will sleeping in the living room to keep the Wii company. Of course, before we got to open ours, Will was playing my Mom’s incessantly. So much so that even Guinness protested:

So cute, right?? Anyhow, Wednesday morning, we packed up the car again and spent the last 3 nights (was supposed to be 4, but Will wanted to go home early) at his parents house where our dogs got to see Riley, Will’s parents Great Pyrenees. His breed is a cousin breed with Guinness’, the Bernese Mountain Dog, so we ended up with two HUGE, slobbery, high energy dogs in tiny spaces. Yay! (on a side note, Will’s mom had a creme for Guinness’ eye that she had used when Riley had scratched his eye that she got from the Vet, and we used it on Guinness. Within TWO days, his eye was pretty much back to normal. The diarrhea went away, I think it was just from being nervous and stressed out about the traveling.) Anyhow, check out Riley:

Adorable, right??

**DISCLAIMER**

I realize that I take a lot of pictures of animals, but that is only because NO ONE in mine or Will’s family really wants their pictures taken and EVERY time I put a picture of Will on here, he bitches. But I’m standing strong and I’m posting some of the pictures from Christmas whether he wants me to or not (sorry, babe. I love you!)

Christmas Eve, we had the gathering at Will’s grandmother’s house and then we spent the night at Will’s parents so that we were there Christmas morning to see the kids open their presents:

sorry. the 11 year old in me was too excited to contain that much longer.

And of course, like any other 12 year old boy, Ryan got the typical Star Wars items:

We got him the first two books in a Star Trek series, just to round things out.

And like any good Christmas morning, there was one suprise gift for each of them:

Their very own Guitar Hero World Tour!!! Each of them got their own, because like true siblings, they would fight over just one.

And of course Will’s parents didn’t leave us out. We also got Guitar Hero World Tour for the PS2, but since we’d gotten it for the Wii, Will’s Mom took it back and got us another Wii controller and the rechargable battery stand. Will also got some socks, underwear, and boxers (staples from his mom every year) and I got a few shots of him opening his presents:

And hugging his sister:

Next up were Will’s parents. His Mom got a new bracelet:

And his dad got a Garmin GPS System:

Everyone was pretty happy all around. Can you guess what Will did next while we were waiting on his dad to make Christmas morning breakfast?? Did he help the kids set up their Guitar Hero?? Nah……..he did this:

Hooked up and played the Wii. Because he couldn’t stop himself.

We can’t leave out the dogs on Christmas. Neither of our dogs got anything this year, but Mia wanted to make sure she got the proper amount of attention:

She started with Me before unwrapping began:

And then moved over to Will’s Dad for some affection:

And then over to Ryan:

And then over to Morgan:

And just to round things out, back to Mommy:

We spent the rest of the week at Will’s parents enjoying good food, good company, and LOTS of Wii.

Friday, I saw some lifelong friends of mine for brunch, but I forgot my camera. As soon as Ashley posts her pictures, I’ll link to them.

Saturday, we packed up and made the 10 hour drive home. Since I was on the road and didn’t have any photoshop, I missed this week’s Exposaroonie challenge, but here are some Christmas-y pictures for your enjoyment:

A Nativity Scene from Will’s Parent’s front yard:

One of the blow up Santas with condensation from the rain on his face. It made me laugh b/c it looks like sweat to me and he looks nervous.

And my favorite shot with the christmas lights. This one was kind of accidental, but it ended up as my favorite. It’s the one I would have chosen for the Exposaroonie Challenge if I had made the deadline:

I have a ton more of those, but I didn’t edit them and I figure you can only see so many before they get boring. I did manage to get my tri-pod and my point and shoot camera w/ video from storage at my Mom’s house before we left, so hopefully I’ll be able to do a Vlog soon (video blog, for those of you who aren’t as dorky as me).

Saturday when we arrived home, we got the key back from Trent and Nicole (they were checking in on the cats for us, did I forget to mention that??) and we walked in to find this:

Before we left, Trent had mentioned that they had bought Shae a new kennel because he was out-growing this one and I offered to buy the old one off of them, but instead, Mia got it for Christmas and we were able to throw away her old kennel that had a huge bump in the middle and now she has one that matches Guinness’, except smaller. So, lots of thanks to Trent, Nicole and Shae!! She likes this kennel A LOT more. She has even started getting in it when she doesn’t have to and sleeping in there!!

Since this will be my last post of 2008, I thought I’d say THANK YOU to all the wonderful people I’ve “met” by starting this blog who have given me support and encouragement these past 7 months. Here’s to another year!!

After an unintentional hiatus, I’m back!! Apparently in my absence, I missed Nik over at Prose and Converse closing up shop (very sad), a video blogging challenge over at Ashley’s blog, a Furday Friday and Mundane Monday, and the opportunity to ask Steph some crazy questions, and not to mention I still haven’t written my guest post for Christina yet!! Wow!! I better get busy!

This past weekend was the Disney Vacation Weekend that his parents ended up giving me as a belated birthday present due to poor financial backing on our end. They were determined that we go and ended up supporting us all weekend. I feel kinda guilty, but we needed a vacation and it was great to see the family, so I can’t be too upset about it.

Here we are on the ferry on our way to the Magic Kingdom where we spent our entire first day. Friday was Morgan’s Birthday, she turned 11. This is Will with his little brother Ryan, and little sister Morgan.

Will and his dad on the ferry ride over:

Since it was Morgan’s birthday, we did what she wanted to do first. Of course, being 11 and a complete roller coaster baby, she chose the teacups:

Will with his determination to make either Ryan or I sick from the spinning:

And then we went to the Dumbo ride, but the line was waaaayyyyy to long, so we decided to try that later in the day since all the little kids would be tired and the line would (hopefully) be shorter.

I don’t remember what we did next, but I did manage to get some random photos in:

Not only is there a gift shop at the end of every ride, but there is also one like every 5 feet. You think this is on purpose, or maybe they haven’t noticed??

Consumerism at it’s best:

In the Cinderella Gift Shop is a replica of the castle:

Halloween statues were out:

We finally made our way back to the Dumbo ride and as you can see:

Like Father

Like Son

Makes me so proud!! Here’s some other random touristy goodness:

The Haunted Mansion Ride where Morgan had her first meltdown because she was “scared”

And my last shot Saturday night leaving the MGM Studios:

Even with my “night” setting and changing the aperture, it was still a little blurry around the lights, but I’m pretty proud of it. I think this is my favorite photo from the almost 200 I took. Most of them are from the first day at the Magic Kingdom, I mostly carried the damn camera bag around Saturday, but I didn’t feel too inspired that day. I’m going to go check out all the video blogs, write a guest post for Christina, and start drafting a Furday Friday post for this Friday. I hope you guys missed me cause I missed you!

As promised, here is Furday Friday!! This week we are doing something a little different….we are featuring GUEST DOGGIES!! These are pictures of other furry “babies” in my life that I have taken a while back, but edited today!

First up is Sophie. She is CJ and Mandy’s dog that they got right before Mandy graduated college and moved in with me for a few months:

The Next “baby” is Murphy. He is April and James’ Rottie. These pictures were taken the first time we introduced our “children” and Mia and Guinness’ first trip to the beach:

Mia giving Murphy a ninja kick to the face!! Chuck Norris who?? Being a ninja runs in the family, I guess.

This next guest is Twinkie. She is Don’s (my previous boss in Ga) baby. He has shared custody of her with my Mom. It’s a really cute arrangement because Twinkie comes to work with Don everyday and on some days, she will follow my Mom out to her car, jump in and run away if Don tries to get her. She does this about once a week…it’s kinda cute.

And of course a Furday Friday wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t feature AT LEAST one of My babies:

This is my favorite photo of Olivia from BEFORE I got my Nikon. It was taken on my Kodak Easy Share, but I LOVE the expression on her face. We had just gotten them a new toy from PetSmart and she was getting pissed off at it and you can actually SEE the frustration on her face. It’s a classic:

This is the VERY FIRST PICTURE I took when I got my Nikon D40. I had LITERALLY just taken it out of the box and Olivia decided she wanted to model for Me from INSIDE the camera box:

And in honor of Nik’sFunky Photo Friday, I have a picture of Me, Will, Mandy, and CJ from My brother’s 22nd birthday. We went to a sushi restaurant in Atlanta called Nakato’s. It was AWESOME!!

2007

I have no idea why CJ and I both look high in this picture, but I swear weren’t, Mom. Look at Will – he’s so hot!! I love my man!! >kiss< Now he has shaggy hair and I can’t decide which look I like better….oh well.

Alright folks, this is a looonnnnngggg post, but if you stay with me, I promise goodies at the end!!

As you all know, this weekend was my little brother’s wedding. WIll and I dropped the “kids” off at April and James’ Wednesday night and then headed home to wait on the laundry that we needed to pack to be washed, dried, and packed into our suitcases. We finally finished and went to bed around 1ish. (procrastinate much?) We woke up at 6 a.m. to get ready, pack the last minute items, and get me to the airport on time. With a quick detor to the Starbucks that Will works at for coffee, we were on our way. Of course, on the way there, I happen to spill tiny amounts of coffee all over my shirt and not notice until after I’m in line for security. My flight was pretty easy. The only hold up I had was getting into the security line behind the Mom with tons of liquids (juice boxes, formula, etc) that weren’t packed into their own clear ziplock bag and under 4oz. I literally stood in the exact same spot for 20 minutes while they unpacked her cases, pulled various liquid items and proceeded to explain to this woman the rules of security even though they are posted every 10 feet on giant signs. (you can see two large industrial sized trashcans full of confiscated liquid items where people think they can pack it deep into their suitcase and no one will notice) This lady finally gets through security, which means I finally get through security in just enough time to buy a book, change my shirt, and board the plane.

I get seated next to this increadibly cute family (mom, dad, baby girl) who are flying to Dallas, TX through ATL and read my book for the 1.5 hr flight. The little girl was SO FREAKIN’ CUTE!! Her grandparents were across the isle and she wanted to go over there, but her Mom wouldn’t let her. She offered me stickers and kept placing her tiny warm little hand on my arm and smiling the biggest little smile. I wish I had taken my camera with me so I could have snapped some shots of her with her parents (unless that is creepy) because they were all so cute.

Anyhow, I arrive in Atlanta, and my Mom is there to pick me up. She has some errands to run (Mother of the Groom kind of stuff) and I desperately need a pedicure. Desperately. So, we proceed immediately to Chick-Fil-A, because I have only had Chick-Fil-A ONCE since I moved to Jupiter SIX MONTHS AGO!! There is only one close by, but it’s like a 25-25 min. ordeal to get there. Plus, it’s in a bad area of town and there are armed police officers on the premisies, so you know….has to be one hell of a craving to get me there. I order my old standby – grilled chicken sand. combo w/ sweet tea and lemon. I. AM. IN. HEAVEN.

We end up going by Pharris Lumber (where I worked before we moved) and I got to see everyone for a few while Mom did some work. Then we went to CJ and Mandy’s (my brother and his new Wife, weird, his WIFE) to pick up some things that needed to be delivered to the event center for the wedding. And then came my pedicure. Let me just say, it cost me $18 for the pedi, and I tipped the poor girl 9$ on top of that because I was so embarassed by the state of my feet and she worked so hard that she was sweating when she was done. I know, I’m ashamed. But, my feet are really cute and my heels are a little sore where she was chiseling away at them with that crazy razor blade thing. Thankfully I can say that my feet were NEVER this bad.

Mom and I left the nail salon around 2:30, went home and played Guitar Hero, and showed up to the rehersal at 5. We helped unload the car, set up a little, and then started the rehersal. My brother is so funny, I swear. He was talking a bunch of shit about how “I’m not going to cry, that’s stupid. I won’t pass out, people keep telling me to not lock my knees” and everyone kept assuring him that it would be different when he saw Mandy walking down the isle, but we’re getting to that. The rehersal ended (finally) and we all went to the rehersal dinner at Olive Garden. We waited over an HOUR for any food/drinks to hit our table. We had reservations for a party of 25 @ 7pm and when we got there, we only had 23 seats because each table was set up for 12 places, and some douchebag at a booth behind one of our tables had taken one of our seats. We ended up with 28 people and two servers. Now, before I go into any details about dinner, please understand that I was a server for a VERY LONG TIME and I’ve waited on my fair share of parties and I fully understand how hard of a job it can be. Out of the two servers we had, one was wonderful and the other was a *dumbass bitch* who had no personality and was rude to the entire table. (*I am paraphrasing here because I was at the other table and am only passing along the comments others made about her) We still waited until after 8 pm for drinks, salad, breadsticks or soup to be delivered to our table, but once they got the ball rolling, we were good. I ate WAY too much food and still had plenty to take home for Will to reheat later. Now, during this time, Will was supposed to be getting on the 6:40 flight and when he arrives at the airport, he finds that his flight has been delayed by 2 hours and won’t be leaving until after 8:30. So, we finish dinner, go home, play a little Wii and I take a shower so that I can wash my hair and put my Bumble and Bumble products in it because Mom and I had hair appointments the next morning at 9:30 (and my hair is so baby fine that it never holds any style for very long). Will finally calls me at 11pm to tell me that his plane landed and his Mom was already waiting on him, so I figured it would be about 11:40ish when he got in, so I stayed up and watched an episode of Scrubs. When I didn’t hear from him by 11:30, I called again and THEY WERE STILL ON THE TARMACK!!! Needless to say, I went to bed. He ended up calling me around 1am to tell me he was there so I could go let him in, and then I passed right back out.

The next morning, Mom and I headed to our hair appointment and I felt that I really needed to find a style that my hair could hold since we were getting ours done @ 9:30 in the morning and the wedding didn’t acually start until 6 in the evening! So, I opted for an up-do with LOTS of hairspray. I wore a really cute black and white polka-dot dress and some hot red heels that I got at Dillards last year for my birthday. I was going for kind of a ‘retro/vintage’ thing and with my hair and makeup, I was totally able to pull it off. I got a lot of compliments on my dress and hair that night, so yay! So, Mom and I are the first to arrive at the hair salon to get our hair done and it takes them about an hour to finish the both of us. Then it was off to Merle Norman to get our make-up done. Right as we were finishing up there, Mandy called her Mom (who was getting her make up done by then) and said that she forgot her veil at the event center, could someone bring it to her so they could finish her hair? Well, of course Mom says that we could do it since we were literally across the street from the event center. I went inside, asked the gentlemen moving chairs if he knew where it was and he brought me out this GIANT PUFFY BAG with a veil sitting on top. Now, I wasn’t sure if this whole thing was a veil or just to hold the shape of the veil, so Mom said to bring it all, and I did. We drove back across town to where Mandy was getting her hair done and when I went to open the back door to get the veil off the back seat, the VEIL STARTED TO FALL!! So, I let go of the heavy ass Navigator door, which slammed into my arm, to protect the veil from getting dirty. I then take it inside to Mandy who says, ” That bag is what goes under the dress, it wasn’t supposed to come here!! Oh well, I guess I’ll have to take it back when I’m finished.” No “Thanks, but..” or anything. I was a little peeved, especially since I had just sacrificed my arm to keep her veil clean. I mean, I know that brides are super stressed the day of the wedding or whatever, but since I had been in town and seen her several times, this was SERSIOUSLY the first thing she had said to me the ENTIRE TIME.

Moving on, after getting our make up finished, Mom and I went on the prowl for a red flower for my hair to finish off my “vintage” look. I had no luck at Target, so we just went to Michael’s and bought a single fake red flower, cut the stem off, and stuck it into my hair. I then fidigeted with my hair for the next 7 hours or so to try and keep it as perfect as possible. I also tried not to sweat which is hard to do when the A/C is busted in Georgia in August.

So, onto the wedding already. I commend all of you who have stuck with me thus far. Here is your reward, pictures!!

The ceremony itself was very short and sweet and tears were shed by Me, My Mom, and BOTH the Bride and Groom (who said he wouldn’t cry, remember?). It was very cute and then onto the reception we went:

Here is a picture of Will and Me before the ceremony. (I loved my hair!!)

And here is Will and I with My Great Aunt Linda and Uncle Jim, who acted as the Honorary Grandparents. Linda is My Grandfathers Sister and he passed away about 2 years ago this September. CJ and I have no living Grandparents, so Linda and Jim will also be my Honorary Grandparents.

And here is a family portrait. My Mom, Dad, CJ, and Me all growed up and dressed nice……WOW!! (I have no idea why my brother is making that face!!)

Will and I were on the phone discussing what we were going to do about dinner when I heard him pull into the garage. I quickly got off the phone with him and went out into the stairwell (townhouse) and hid at the bottom of the stairs in the dark. When he came in and turned on the light – what do you think I did? I scared the living sh!t out of him!!! HILARIOUS!! And then he did the fake pout and refused to hug me hello, but he eventually gave in….RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!! I love this man so much! He’s the only one who truly just GETS me and loves me endlessly for it.

This past holiday weekend, Will’s family came into town. I enjoy it when we have company, but for some reason, part of me also feels kinda hijacked. I mean, our entire routine is busted, the television becomes property of whoever gets to it first and usually ends up on some kind of children’s cartoon that I do not understand, star trek, star wars, mash, airline documentary, or other falling-asleep-sitting-up-because-this-program-is-for-old-people tv show. This weekend was no exception. The house was filled with two yelling, whiny, kids filled with prepubescent attitude, two dogs terrorizing everyone with cold noses, wet tongues, and heavy paws on their feet, two adults yelling at the two kids, and Will and I yelling at the dogs, the kids, and the parents to “Sshhhh, be quiet, we’re right here, you don’t have to yell.”

The weekend wasn’t all bad. We had some good times when we got out of our tiny little townhome. We went to the local turtle rescue, which honestly, I think I loved more than anyone because I LOVE turtles. Especially sea turtles. They were so cute and not only did I get to adopt one, but Will and I picked up volunteer forms!!(If this is a cause you are interested in, please donate.) Of course, I in all the chaos of getting 6 people out the door, I walked right out and forgot my camera, so I didn’t get any pictures, but Will and I plan on going back, so I’ll get them then.

We also went to the movies, the boys all saw Indiana Jones and us girls went to see Wall·E which was super cute. I loved it so much!! A good time was had by all that day. We took them to some of our favorite eateries such as Dune Dogs and Too Jays, and up to Stewart to play mini-golf and out for ice cream at Sloan’s. The kids were in rare form most of the weekend with all the whining and fighting and crying and screaming. I swear, it makes me so happy right now that Will and I do not have any kids. I mean, the very minute that they left, the house went SILENT. Like a sonic boom in reverse. After Will dropped them off at the airport (at like 6:00 a.m.) he came home and we slept the undisturbed, perfect sleep of people without children until about 10:30.

Now, don’t think I’m complaining about them all the time, because usually they are much better behaved then they were this weekend, and usually I am not as irritable as I was this weekend. This past visit was just a little hard on us all, I think, and we will have to all do better next time they come down which will be in October. Will and I will be going back home at the end of this month for my brothers wedding on the first of August, so we will see them then.

Yesterday, We took the dogs to the beach after we woke up, and of course I remembered my camera then. I will post some pictures later from July 4th and the beach, I just have to go through them all. Until then, go vote for your favorite photo in this week’s exposaroonie challenge. I didn’t get a chance to take a photo this week, it was all to hectic, but I will be participating in next week.

Not too many people are lucky enough to say that they have had a best friend for 23 years. I am one of those few people. This post is a celebration of that friendship.

Ashley and I used to live one house apart from one another growing up. We met under some pretty cute/odd circumstances. She was outside one afternoon looking for her cat named “Nikki” who had run away. I (also nick-named Nikki, short for Nichole) am also outside playing all by my lonesome when, in the distance, I can hear someone yelling out my name “Niiikkkkkiiiii…..where are you Niiiikkkkkkiiiii?”

Now, as a five year old, I’m kinda freaked out, but instinctively, what do I do? I answer “I’m right here!” (Like that was any help at all, where is here?) So, of course, she thinks I am her cat answering her and she runs back inside to tell her mom all about it. I’m a little blurry on the details after that, but needless to say, we’ve been best friends ever since. I practically LIVED at her house growing up, went on all her family vacations, and considered her parents my “other” parents. Her family dynamic was so different than mine, I honestly feel that her family helped me get a different perspective on life than just my parents alone and for that I am grateful.

We went to kindergarten through the fourth grade together practically attached at the hip. She moved to another county (only about half an hour away, but for me it felt like another country at the time) at the beginning of fifth grade. Suddenly, I was alone. We made it through okay, made some other friends, but always stayed close. Through the years we have had our ups and downs and we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but we’ve always been there for each other no. matter. what.

She and I have really grown up together. I was there for her wedding, the birth of her son, and her and her husband buying their first home. She was there for me almost every day I was in the hospital keeping me company while everyone else was at work and taking care of me so I didn’t have to call in a nurse. She will be there at my wedding and the birth of my children and when Will and I purchase our first home in Florida. Word can’t always express my love for this person because she is more than my friend, she is my family.

Recently, she has gone through some positive changes in her life and I cannot express how happy I am for her. So, I went onto her myspace page and stole some of her pictures, edited them and am going to post them so you can see for yourself what a beautiful person my best friend is, inside and out. Enjoy, and Ashley, don’t be mad, I love you, girl!!

This is a celebration of almost a quarter of a century old friendship. Sounds much more serious that way, huh? Here’s to making it to half a century.